Aaron Judge injury update doesn't take Yankees return off track, but it doesn't help

Nobody should fault a Yankees fan out there who wanted to be optimistic about Aaron Judge's rib injury. There's nothing wrong with possessing some hope. Then again ... knowing the injury history with this team only leads to pessimism. There's just no other alternative.

We got a small update on Judge (and Giancarlo Stanton) this past weeked with little context. The Yankees followed that up with some more helpful (but upsetting) information on Tuesday.

Like the weekend update, it was confirmed Judge is not ready to be re-imaged. When he first went down with a fractured rib, the Yankees said he would be re-imaged/re-evaluated in 4-6 weeks before any determination on his status.

So, technically, that's still on track. Judge hasn't played since the end of May. Aaron Boone said he's a "couple weeks away" from that important checkpoint, adding that Judge has been "improving." All fine and great, but can you blame us for knowing this would end up being on the longer end?

And would you blame us if we thought he might be three or four weeks away from the imaging? We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but with the way Stanton and Max Fried's situations have gone, we are not ready to chalk up an expedited Judge return.

When can Yankees realistically expect Aaron Judge to return from injury?

Judge has been "doing some lower-body stuff now in the weight room and moving better", per Boone, which is great to hear. So let's say he undergoes X-rays/MRIs in mid-July. If all goes well, he'll need another couple weeks of workouts/ramp-up before partaking in baseball activities. And the "baseball activity" progress goes from taking swings off a tee all the way to going on a rehab assignment. That could be another couple weeks.

With that rosy timetable, Judge could return by the middle of August. But any further delay, whether it's the imaging, workouts, baseball activity, etc., puts him in danger to a September return. The Yankees need him back as soon as humanly possible, but they also can't jeopardize anything, so they will need to exercise caution.

At this moment, there isn't necessarily bad news, but we are already on the lengthier end of the recovery. That does nothing but create potential risk for a more extended and damaging absence. We're hoping for the best and will be keeping constant tabs, but if we don't get the desired news by July 14, some real worry might start to set in.

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